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Despite huge protests in Holyoake Street against knocking down elderly tenants’ homes and forcing them to move elsewhere, the council went ahead.

The council’s idea of ‘consultation’ is to say to tenants: “This is what we’re doing; let us have your views; now we’re doing it anyway.”

Holyoake Street turns out to be a blueprint for the council to impose its will on tenants who, frankly, deserve better treatment from the landlord whom they voted to stay with only two years ago.

I appreciate there is a shortage of housing which local people can afford to buy or rent, but what price are we prepared to pay for more?

One of the reasons we are so short is the council keeps picking unsuitable sites - take Enmore Green, Taunton, for instance - where well-organised residents clearly articulate the reasons against,
and strongly campaign to defeat the threat to their neighbourhood.

So, the Deane council’s answer is to pick on people who can’t fight back – the sick, vulnerable, and elderly who live in its sheltered housing estates.

To find out about the Conservative approach to affordable housing, email me at mark@markformosa.com or visit www.markformosa.com